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How-to

Disclaimer: There is no right or wrong way to travel. This is merely a guide of how I plan trips in an organized fashion and I thought it might be useful to others. You mustn’t be surprised at my fastidiousness – the name of this website literally translates to “plan”.

Flights

After I have a rough idea of when the trip will begin and end, I start looking at flights – sometimes months in advance, sometimes within a couple days of leaving. If you have the luxury of time, I recommend tracking the most appealing flights with Google Flights (select outbound and return flight, then scroll down and click “Track price”).

Despite normal human preferences, I have left at all hours of the day with layovers between half an hour and 13 hours. The worst layover time is probably between three and six hours. It’s long enough so that your travel time is significantly increased but not long enough to leave the airport. If you find yourself booking these kinds of flights pretty often, it’s very worth it to buy lounge access. Priority Pass is probably the most popular lounge membership – it gets you into over 1000 lounges worldwide with an annual fee of $99 (each visit costs $27 on top of that). They’re typically not the most luxurious lounges but generally beats sitting at the gate for hours on end. You can purchase one-time passes to many airport lounges but some of them require a certain class of ticket.

There are also credit cards that offer lounge access – I personally have the American Express Platinum card but I think the best travel credit card overall is Chase Sapphire Reserve

The LoungeBuddy app is handy to scope out lounges ahead of time but beware, it may not show all the lounges that you have access to so it’s worth double-checking with whoever you have your membership through

If your travel companions are booked on the same flight but on separate reservations, most airlines offer the option to link your reservations. This means that you will be seated together by default, saving you the mad dash to check in online once the 24-hour window opens hoping to find two/three seats together. All you have to do is call the airline with your booking confirmation numbers. If there are multiple legs and some legs are operated by other airlines, call the airline that the flight is operated by (e.g. if you booked through United but the particular leg of the journey is operated by Lufthansa, call Lufthansa).

Which seat should you pick? It depends on the plane so it’s often worthwhile to check out SeatGuru

If you are traveling with other people and they’ve booked different flights, it is highly advisable to share flight numbers. Between unexpected changes (delays, early arrivals) and the possibility that you won’t have wifi/data once you land, knowing which flight your travel companions are on is very helpful. Plus, it’s easier to coordinate transportation between the airport and your accommodations.